Just more than 2,000 people live in Ferrum, Virginia, a no-stoplight Appalachian town nestled into the Blue Ridge mountains.
It’s about 30 miles south of Roanoke, the type of spot the U.S. government classifies as a “census-designated place.” There’s one home-style, sit-down restaurant, a Subway and a Dairy Queen. The nearest Walmart is a 20-minute drive up Route 40.
The town is best known for the institution with which it shares a name, Ferrum College, a tiny, century-old liberal arts school with a student body of fewer than 1,000. But for a few spring seasons in the early 1990s, the town and the school became a pilgrimage site for baseball fans all across the region.